Due to environmental issues, many changes in materials industry are required. In particular, conventional materials such as PVC and PC used in medical products or food containers cause endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and disposal thereof is a problem. Thus, attempts to replace conventional materials are actively underway. In particular, in transparent medical materials industry such as syringes and tube connectors in which liquid materials are stored, there is an urgent need for new material development.
As generally used transparent resins, there are a polycarbonate (PC) resin, a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) resin, a polystyrene (PS) resin, a polyacrylonitrile-styrene (SAN) resin, etc.
However, since a polycarbonate resin has superior impact strength or transparency, but poor processability, it is difficult to produce precise products and poor chemical resistance is exhibited. In addition, due to bisphenol-A used in preparing polycarbonate, application thereof is increasingly limited.
In addition, a polymethylmethacrylate resin has superior optical properties, but very poor impact resistance and chemical resistance.
Furthermore, a polystyrene (PS) resin and a polyacrylonitrile-styrene (SAN) resin also have poor impact resistance and chemical resistance, and an acrylonitrile remainder is often detected therefrom.
An acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-based (hereinafter referred to as ABS) tercopolymer is a resin having well balanced properties such as impact strength and liquidity, but is opaque.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,833, Japanese Patent Application Pub. No. hei 11-147020, European Patent No. 703,252 and Japanese Patent Application No. hei 8-199008, methods of providing transparency by introducing an acrylate alkyl ester or methacrylate alkyl ester compound to an ABS-based resin having superior impact resistance, chemical resistance, processability, etc. are disclosed. However, when the methods are used, poor chemical resistance is exhibited due to methacrylate alkyl ester introduced to provide transparency. Accordingly, chemical resistance required in medical products is deficient, and thus, application thereof to medical products is limited. In addition, to use a resin including acrylonitrile in medical products or food containers, an acrylonitrile remainder should not be detected. However, an acrylonitrile remainder is often detected from transparent ABS-based resin prepared according to the methods, and thus, using the same in medical products is limited.
Accordingly, there is an urgent need for a transparent resin which has superior transparency and, at the same time, superior chemical resistance and from which an acrylonitrile remainder harmful to the human body is not detected, and thus, may be used in medical products or food storage containers.